Schedule of Events

Donna Carroll’s career began in student affairs — a young professional with an appetite for responsibility. Several moves and promotions later, including appointments as an academic dean and a chief advancement officer, Dr. Carroll returned to her home city of New York to work at Fordham University. In 1994, she became the 10th president of Dominican University in Illinois, the institution’s first lay leader and one of the youngest presidents in the country.

Dr. Carroll describes her current position as President of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) as an “unexpected blessing.” After 28 years as a president, including a year as interim president of North Central College, Dr. Carroll has the opportunity to help advance Catholic higher education at a national level and mentor a new generation of lay presidents.

Leadership & Advocacy

Donna Carroll’s leadership legacy is punctuated by multiple accomplishments, strategic and financial, including the successful name change of Rosary College to Dominican University. However, it is her outspoken advocacy for the rights of undocumented and marginalized students that has defined her career and brought her national recognition. Dr. Carroll received the Strangers No Longer Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Moral Courage Award from Faith in Public Life, and the Dominican Veritas Award, among others. In 2022, ACCU honored her with the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC Award for outstanding contributions to Catholic higher education.

Civic & Educational Leadership

Throughout her career, Dr. Carroll has balanced institutional responsibilities with active civic, association, and educational leadership. She has served on the boards of Interfaith America, Chicago Catholic Schools, Fordham and Scranton Universities, The HistoryMakers, Abraham Lincoln Library, to name just a few, as well many regional and national higher education association boards. She is currently a trustee of Dominican Veritas Ministries, the sponsoring board for Dominican elementary and secondary education.

Education & Honors

Dr. Carroll received her bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College and her master and doctoral degrees in higher education administration and counseling from the University of Cincinnati. She has received honorary degrees from Edgewood College, Fordham University, Albertus Magnus College, and Scranton University.

Sister Mary Ann Dillon, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, retired in 2023 as executive vice president of Mission Integration and Sponsorship for Trinity Health, a position which she held for 7 years. In that role she provided executive leadership, direction, guidance and consultation for the integration of Mission, Core Values and Catholic Identity with particular emphases on Trinity’s strategic plan, structures and operations. Dillon also led the development and implementation of mission services across the System including ethics, chaplaincy, mission discernment, Catholic Identity and formation. Prior to this role, Dillon served for five years as senior vice president for mission at Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Higher Education Leadership

From 1997-2010, she was president of Mount Aloysius College in Pennsylvania, where she led a strategic planning process and its implementation, increasing enrollment by 47% and net assets by more than 300% as well as developing a comprehensive campus master plan that expanded and revitalized the campus footprint. Previously, Sister Mary Ann served as assistant professor of philosophy and religion and dean of general education at Saint Francis University of Pennsylvania.

Board Service & Governance

Dillon has served for more than three decades as a member of the board of directors or board of trustees for Catholic health systems and universities. Currently she is a member of the board of directors for Mercy Health Ministries of Missouri and as a member of the boards of trustees for Salve Regina University, Misericordia University, Mount Aloysius College and Trocaire College. She is active with the Catholic Health Association, presently as a member of its Sponsorship and Canon Law Committee as well as the Advisory Board of the Center of Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health Care. Sister Mary Ann has also served her religious community in a variety of leadership positions including as regional congregational leader and as an advisor on the development of new forms of sponsorship.

Education

Dillon received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Misericordia University and a Master of Arts in Theology from the University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. She earned a Ph.D. in Systematic/Moral Theology and a graduate certificate in health care ethics from Duquesne University.

Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., was elected in December 2023 as the University of Notre Dame’s 18th president. As president, he has devoted himself to furthering the University’s mission as the preeminent global Catholic research university. Committed to ensuring that a Notre Dame education is affordable and accessible to all students, in September 2024 he announced the Pathways to Notre Dame Initiative, making Notre Dame the first highly selective faith-based university in the United States to be need-blind and loan-free for all students, both domestic and international.

Early Life & Vocation

Hailing from Michigan City, Indiana, Father Dowd graduated from Notre Dame in 1987, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics, and entered Moreau Seminary in the fall of that year to explore his vocation to religious life and priesthood. During his time in the seminary, he asked to be assigned to East Africa and spent 18 months there. After professing final vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1993 and being ordained a priest in 1994, he worked in Campus Ministry at Notre Dame, serving as associate rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and as an assistant rector in one of the University’s residence halls.

Academic Background & Research

Father Dowd is a professor of political science at the University, having been part of that department since 2004. He completed his graduate studies at UCLA, earning an M.A. in African studies in 1998 and a doctorate in political science in 2003. Specializing in comparative politics, his research and teaching focuses on African politics, identity politics, and religion and politics. He has explored the effects of religious beliefs and institutions on the integration of migrants/refugees in Europe and the effects of faith-based schools on citizenship and civic engagement in Africa. He is the author of numerous articles in leading academic journals as well as a book, Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa, published by Oxford University Press.

University Leadership

Prior to being elected president, Father Dowd served as vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives, was a member of the President’s Leadership Council, and oversaw several institutes, centers, and other academic units, including the Institute for Social Concerns, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, iNDustry Labs, Institute for Educational Initiatives, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, McGrath Institute for Church Life, Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, ROTC programs, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. Father Dowd also served as religious superior of the Holy Cross Priests and Brothers at Notre Dame.

Global Engagement & Service

Previously, Father Dowd served as assistant provost for internationalization with Notre Dame Global, where his primary responsibilities included overseeing the Dublin Global Gateway and Kylemore Abbey Global Centre in Ireland and the São Paulo Global Center in Brazil. He played a key role in establishing an office in Nairobi, Kenya, to promote and support Notre Dame’s research and educational partnerships in Africa. Father Dowd is the founder of Notre Dame’s Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, which is dedicated to forging community-engaged research partnerships in the Global South.

Since 2020, Father Dowd has served as a Fellow and Trustee of the University. He also serves as a member of the Committee on Catholic Education Higher Education Working Group of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), is a Trustee of Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and is a board member of the American Council on Education (ACE). Father Dowd has ministered to students on campus for many years as a priest-in-residence in Dillon, St. Edward’s, and Cavanaugh Halls.

A native of Warwick, RI, Fr. Shanley holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Philosophy of Religion. After completing undergraduate studies in history at Providence College in 1980, he earned a licentiate degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America. He also holds a Master of Divinity and a licentiate degree in Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

Ordained a member of the Dominican Order of Preachers in 1987, Fr. Shanley taught philosophy at Providence College and was a visiting professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He served as a philosophy professor at The Catholic University of America from 1994 to 2005.

Fr. Shanley was the 12th and longest-serving president in the history of Providence College. Elected in 2005, he served three consecutive five-year terms and concluded his service as President on June 30, 2020.

During Fr. Shanley’s tenure at Providence College, he was widely credited with making substantial improvements to campus facilities and student services, hiring large numbers of new faculty, diversifying the student body, and strengthening the college’s national profile in academics and athletics.

In November of 2020, the St. John’s University Board of Trustees announced the unanimous election of Fr. Shanley as the University’s 18th President, and he began his tenure on February 1, 2021, at the peak of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

At St. John’s, Fr. Shanley navigated the University through the return to pre-COVID-19 business operations. He formed a Strategic Planning Committee that created a five-year (2022–27) Strategic Plan to help shape a bright future for the University. This plan, which serves as a University roadmap, has clear objectives and measurable goals that prioritize the activities and identify the resources needed to best support St. John’s mission and vision going forward.

Fr. Shanley has served as Associate Editor and Editor of The Thomistand as a member of the editorial board for the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. He has also served on the executive committee of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Widely published in philosophy-focused academic journals, his research interests include Thomas Aquinas, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, medieval philosophy, and ethics.

At St. John’s, Fr. Shanley teaches a philosophy course in ethics for honor students. He is the author of two books and edited another:

• Editor and author of the Introduction in One Hundred Years of Philosophy. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2001.
• The Thomist Tradition. Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 2. Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.
• The Treatise on the Divine Nature: Summa Theologiae I 1–13. Translation and Commentary. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2006.

Fr. Shanley is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York. He also serves as Chair of the BIG EAST Conference Board of Directors.

Fr. Shanley is a self-described opera aficionado and a sports enthusiast who enjoys golf and incorporates assorted Chinese martial arts into his daily routine.